Meta

Month: September 2015

An Argentinian family drove 13,000 miles from their home in Beunos Aires to see the Pope in Philadelphia as the Pope visited the United States. They made the trip as a great adventure, taking six months to make the drive in a Volkswagen micro-bus. They not only got to see the Pope, they also met him and talked with him as an added bonus.

The family, Catire Walker, 41, his wife, Noel Zemborain, 39, and their four children, ages 3 to 12, got a phone call early in the morning and were surprised they had been invited to meet the Pope. They never expected to get the call, and they rushed to get ready and went to meet the Pope, still not quiet believing it was true.

“You are crazy,” the Pope, who is also from Buenos Aires, told the family as he joked with them, according to an article on the Washington Post.

The family said the Pope was very warm and friendly. The Pope had been following their journey on the Facebook account they had set up to keep friends posted about their progress on the trip. They made 13 border crossings during the trip.

To make the trip they drove across Argentina to Chile and up the west coast of South America, through Mexico, and went through New Orleans before heading to Philadelphia. They made many stops and saw a lot of sights. They home schooled their children along the way. There were a few breakdowns, one in Guatamala left them stuck for three weeks, and there was another breakdown in Delaware. There were several minor breakdowns, they said, and their faith that they would make the trip rose and fell at various times along the way.

They stayed with many host families along the way, and said they were grateful for financial support they had received as they made the trip. They had been hoping to make a long vacation trip, but were busy with raising children and working jobs that left them little time. When they heard the Pope was coming to the United States, they decided to take the plunge. They both quit their jobs, loaded up the micro bus and set out on their journey.

They will be going back to Miama and will fly home from there. “This was a trip of hope,” Noel Zemborain said last week just before they got to Philadelphia.

If anything good can come of all the negative publicity to the Duggar Family it would have to be to the 2 new mothers,Jessa and Jill. TLC waited an ample amount of time for the drama to die down a bit and now the Duggar girls have announced that they are coming up for a 2-3 show stint. The famous network wants to see how well they do in the ratings. When the girls got married and became pregnant, the show had some of the highest ratings it had in years. It really got the executives thinking. They had to bow out of the situation with the Duggars and the molestation scandal with grace, but that doesn’t mean that the girls can’t still be a part of the network.

The Duggars have kept a low profile since the scandal broke. In fact, baby Jill and her husband Derick Dillard, packed up son Israel and headed to another country on a mission trip. Jesse and Ben Seewald stayed close to home posting pictures of the pregnancy progression online for all to see. In a convention near Orlando, Florida last week, Seewald hinted at what Duggar 2.0 would showcase. He told the fans that they would get to see what they wanted most, the girls being mothers and young married brides.

Even if the show hadn’t pulled “19 Kids and Counting” when they did, it was only a matter of time. The show had been on the air so long and had lost a great deal of fans. Their self-righteous attitudes and weird beliefs were increasingly hard with some people to connect with. Some are even saying that their untraditional methods of dating that require no hand holding until engagement and only side hugs once engaged could have been what contributed to Joshua Duggars problems of a sexual nature.

The new show will not focus on the entire family, and you probably won’t even see an appearance from the matriarch or patriarch. However, there is still something within the family that the public wants to see. There is a large fan base that watched Jill and Jesse grow up on television and so they are interested in their lives. There is also a new fan base that is enjoying see how these young girls live and deal with real, everyday situations. It’s safe to say that 2-3 episodes are just the beginning.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that a dislike button will be soon in the works for the popular social media website. He made this announcement during the company’s Q&A session which took place on Tuesday, September 15th.

According to yahoo.com, he said the use of a “dislike” button would be used primarily for sad posts — deaths, crises, and other negative everyday life situations faced by the website’s users.

“What they really want is the ability to express empathy,” Zuckerberg said Tuesday of creating the functionality. “Not every moment is a good moment.”

Zuckerberg has also said that the dislike button has been in the development stages for a while now. At first the company didn’t want to create the button because it would stir up negative reactions from users.

Zuckerberg said that it was not easy creating the button, but Facebook has come up with a strategy that it will soon begin testing.

The new button won’t simply be called “dislike” though. Instead, according to The Evening Sun, Facebook will unleash a “sympathize” button or even a series of buttons that are meant to convey support to others status messages.

Facebook did not have a statement to share in regards to Zuckerberg’s comments about the future dislike button that will be soon be accessible on every Facebook user’s page.

Zuckerberg, who has been named the most powerful man in business as well as in the media by Vanity Fair magazine, has been holding meetings on a daily basis. He says it gives him the opportunity to update Facebook on its current programs, services, etc.

Mr. Zuckerberg is set to have another town hall meeting with a guest—Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on this month. Facebook will livestream the interview on both Zuckerberg’s page, in addition to Modi’s page as well.

The dislike button is a great concept because people have been wanting this for years and plus they will be able to express sympathy to others who are either having a bad day, lost a loved one or is going through a bad crisis. Besides, the current like feature on Facebook is only appropriate if a person like’s someone’s status, post, link, picture, etc.

Today’s US Open Women’s semifinals is both historic and extremely inspiring. Veteran Italian tennis player Flavia Pennetta clinched her first every grand slam in New York on Saturday. The match is a high point in the Italian woman’s life. Pennetta’s victory came over fellow country woman Roberta Vinci. The runner-up at the 2015 US Open shocked the tennis world by defeating heavy favorite American Serena Williams in the semifinals. Vinci pulled of the what she described the match of her life when she took down Serena Williams in three sets in front of a crowd that was mostly rooting for the American. She was down a set to Williams, before she won the second, and came back from 2-0 in the third to clinch her very first grand slam final.

What I find incredibly inspiring is that both woman overcame immense odds to make it to the finals. Nobody thought they had a chance to even make it to the grand slam final. They were underdogs in their semifinals match but thoroughly outplayed their opponents to make it to their maiden grand slam final. According to USA Today sports, Pennetta was given a 150-1 chance to win the US Open and Vinci was given a 300-1 odd of winning the grand slam. These Italian women clearly defied the experts’ predictions. Both woman also defeated much higher ranked players throughout the tournament, showing that the underdog can come out on top.

Besides both women reaching a high point in their career, and defying the odds to even make it to the finals, Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci have made even more history. Pennetta set another record by becoming the oldest woman in a first ever grand slam final at 33 followed by runner-up Roberta Vinci at 32 years of age. Do you feel that you are too old to something? Look at what these women did. They are at the end of their careers and have achieved something that they were unable to for so long.

Pennetta later stunned the crowd when received her trophy by announcing she would retire at the end of 2016 from tennis according to the New York Post. What a way to end your career, by winnning one of the most coveted trophies in tennis.

What I got from their story is that good things can come to do those who believe and fight despite the odds against them. When you consider that Pennetta did not even make a single final this year, her victory is truly amazing. She had a poor start, but managed to pull off an amazing victory that nobody would have ever predicted.